In my recent post regarding my A-Level English Literature experience, I mentioned the fact that there is truly just one skill to be learnt in this qualification which is completely new: the incorporation of critics. To some degree, I feel as if that statement undermines the initial difficulties that said critics tend to present and, given that coursework season is fast approaching, I thought I would share my method as to how you can complete critical reading as quickly and as effectively as possible. Although this post is aimed at A-Level students, I see no reason as to why it could not work for university students or others alike. As per usual, I hope you find this post helpful and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
FINDING CRITICAL ARTICLES/TEXTS
Speaking from a purely personal point of view, the issue that I first had when it came to critical reading was that I simply didn't know where to start; after all, being only a few months into my A-Level English Literature course, I was hardly an expert in my respective texts.
The website that, without a shadow of doubt, saved me was Google Scholar. All you have to do is type in the topic that you are interested in, along with the text and/or the name of the author if you are a literature student, and what you should see is an array of academic articles pop up. Another brilliant website, often suggested in Google Scholar searches, is JSTOR - which has access to many academic articles and journals.
As great as Google Scholar may be, you need to take care and make sure you understand the nature of the sources provided. What I mean by this is that, for better or for worse, many of the so-called academic articles that crop up are indeed university dissertations - and while they may provide some food for thought, university students cannot be quoted as they are not reliable critics. That being said, what you can do is look for any quotations that they have taken from other published academic works/articles. If, for example, there is a quotation that is particularly useful to you and it is from an academic, there is nothing wrong in copying and pasting said quote - along with the very citation if necessary! Even if the quotation in itself may not be helpful but the argument appears so, you can type the name of the article or book into Google and you can often find a preview. This is exactly what I did when it came to my coursework to avoid having to buy 10 or so odd books for only 1 to be useful; I had already previewed the book to see that it was a relatively good fit for my title, and I had already seen how somebody else had argued that particular critic's point. This is all applicable, of course, if you are not recommended certain texts by your teacher/lecturer.
If you do have to purchase a book or two, I would first highly recommend double-checking that your local/institution library doesn't have those materials first - people too often underestimate how many excellent resources they have! If this is not an option, however, I would highly recommend going second-hand (World of Books is a brilliant website for this!). Funnily enough, the most helpful critical text that I purchased for my coursework was actually a former library book, a compilation of critical essays published back in the sixties! If anything, I have found that the older the critical text, the more 'reliable', for lack of a better word, it is.
Briefly returning to the matter of online academic papers, another problem that you may encounter is that of articles being paid-for. No fear, if your school or higher education institution does not have a subscription, find the study's DOI code and copy and paste it into Sci-Hub - a platform which will unlock the article and let you see it!
Specifically talking about A-Level English Literature now, revision guides can be a good starting point but, in my humble opinion, they should be just that: a starting point. At the end of the day, what you have to remember is that citing a revision guide will not only look lazy in the eyes of an examiner, but also many people will likely be flipping through the same revision guides and so that element of original interpretation is taken away.
The website that, without a shadow of doubt, saved me was Google Scholar. All you have to do is type in the topic that you are interested in, along with the text and/or the name of the author if you are a literature student, and what you should see is an array of academic articles pop up. Another brilliant website, often suggested in Google Scholar searches, is JSTOR - which has access to many academic articles and journals.
As great as Google Scholar may be, you need to take care and make sure you understand the nature of the sources provided. What I mean by this is that, for better or for worse, many of the so-called academic articles that crop up are indeed university dissertations - and while they may provide some food for thought, university students cannot be quoted as they are not reliable critics. That being said, what you can do is look for any quotations that they have taken from other published academic works/articles. If, for example, there is a quotation that is particularly useful to you and it is from an academic, there is nothing wrong in copying and pasting said quote - along with the very citation if necessary! Even if the quotation in itself may not be helpful but the argument appears so, you can type the name of the article or book into Google and you can often find a preview. This is exactly what I did when it came to my coursework to avoid having to buy 10 or so odd books for only 1 to be useful; I had already previewed the book to see that it was a relatively good fit for my title, and I had already seen how somebody else had argued that particular critic's point. This is all applicable, of course, if you are not recommended certain texts by your teacher/lecturer.
If you do have to purchase a book or two, I would first highly recommend double-checking that your local/institution library doesn't have those materials first - people too often underestimate how many excellent resources they have! If this is not an option, however, I would highly recommend going second-hand (World of Books is a brilliant website for this!). Funnily enough, the most helpful critical text that I purchased for my coursework was actually a former library book, a compilation of critical essays published back in the sixties! If anything, I have found that the older the critical text, the more 'reliable', for lack of a better word, it is.
Briefly returning to the matter of online academic papers, another problem that you may encounter is that of articles being paid-for. No fear, if your school or higher education institution does not have a subscription, find the study's DOI code and copy and paste it into Sci-Hub - a platform which will unlock the article and let you see it!
Specifically talking about A-Level English Literature now, revision guides can be a good starting point but, in my humble opinion, they should be just that: a starting point. At the end of the day, what you have to remember is that citing a revision guide will not only look lazy in the eyes of an examiner, but also many people will likely be flipping through the same revision guides and so that element of original interpretation is taken away.
DIVING STRAIGHT IN
If you are required to reference all of your critics, as you are in the coursework element of numerous A-Level qualifications, you want to make sure that you have written all the information that you will need in order to complete your citations later on - especially if you choose to, say, borrow a book. If you have never learnt how to reference and need to do so, I would highly recommend doing so first. I would highly recommend using a tool such as Cite This For Me to speed the process up.
What I then personally like to do is set up a table with the following columns: Text; Summary; Key Quotes (with page numbers); Own Thoughts. As you would expect, I begin by listing the text with all its key details, prior to quickly summarising its main arguments. I then list all the quotations I believe to be relevant to my work and follow that up with any thoughts that spring to mind having read the text. Importantly, you do not have to agree with a particular critic's viewpoints and there have been many a time when I have put a little question mark in the 'Own Thoughts' section before finding relevant evidence to counteract their argument.
Again, in regards to A-Level English Literature, I would be very selective in the critical quotations that you choose to learn by heart when it comes to the exam component; you want to go through your quotations with a fine tooth comb to make sure that you do not have two which suggest something very similar, and that you have also covered all basis - after all, there would be nothing worse than walking into a Hamlet exam with a question about espionage if you realise you have no relevant critics! If you are on the Edexcel exam board, I would highly recommend becoming acquainted with the critical texts your exam board provide you to study because said exam board have to make sure that you can use the critical articles that they know you have studied to answer the question; that is to say, if you ever get to the exam and you're absolutely stumped, just think: "But how can I link in the critical articles that I studied in class to this question?". Little bit of exam technique for you there.
What I then personally like to do is set up a table with the following columns: Text; Summary; Key Quotes (with page numbers); Own Thoughts. As you would expect, I begin by listing the text with all its key details, prior to quickly summarising its main arguments. I then list all the quotations I believe to be relevant to my work and follow that up with any thoughts that spring to mind having read the text. Importantly, you do not have to agree with a particular critic's viewpoints and there have been many a time when I have put a little question mark in the 'Own Thoughts' section before finding relevant evidence to counteract their argument.
Again, in regards to A-Level English Literature, I would be very selective in the critical quotations that you choose to learn by heart when it comes to the exam component; you want to go through your quotations with a fine tooth comb to make sure that you do not have two which suggest something very similar, and that you have also covered all basis - after all, there would be nothing worse than walking into a Hamlet exam with a question about espionage if you realise you have no relevant critics! If you are on the Edexcel exam board, I would highly recommend becoming acquainted with the critical texts your exam board provide you to study because said exam board have to make sure that you can use the critical articles that they know you have studied to answer the question; that is to say, if you ever get to the exam and you're absolutely stumped, just think: "But how can I link in the critical articles that I studied in class to this question?". Little bit of exam technique for you there.
Those are my top bits of advice for those of you getting started, or simply getting better at, critical reading. Be sure to let me know if there is anything that I have missed in the comments below as per usual! In the meantime, how about checking out some of my other recent posts?